Institute for Advanced Study dealt setback in plans to build near Princeton Battlefield

Preservationists are celebrating a victory after the Institute for Advanced Study was dealt a setback Wednesday in its plans to build faculty housing on a piece of land adjacent to Princeton Battlefield State Park.

The Delaware & Raritan Canal Commission, in a 4-3 vote, decided to not grant the institute a waiver that would have allowed the project to encroach on stream corridors.

“This leaves them dead in the water,” said Jerry Hurwitz, president of the Princeton Battlefield Society. “Their whole plan is contingent upon them getting this waiver. If they don’t get the waiver for setback rights from the commission, they can’t build as they plan.”

The seven acre parcel on which the housing would be built is thought by some to have been part of the original battlefield as Gen. George Washington led his soldiers against the British, and preservationists have fought to keep housing off it.

The institute has no plans to throw in the towel yet and will consider all of its options, spokeswoman Christine Ferrara said.

“We’re confident that this decision won’t be an obstacle to completing our project,” she said. “It’s too soon to say exactly what that next step will be.”

In March 2012, the Princeton Regional Planning Board approved the site for eight townhouses and seven single-family homes, covering seven of the 22 acres that the institute owns.

The institute originally submitted the project for commission approval in the summer of 2012 but the commission lacked a quorum, triggering a rule requiring approval in the event the commission is unable to act on an application in 45 days. The institute, however, decided to give up its “administrative” approval and allow the commission a chance to consider the application.

“We felt that it would be important to get actual approval from the board and that it would be the most secure way to move forward with the project,” Ferrara said.

Hurwitz described the decision as a “big win” for the battlefield society. Certain standards have to be met for the commission to waive its rules, he said, and his group argued before the commission that the institute did not meet them.

The Delaware & Raritan Canal Commission is made up of members from the four counties through which the canal flows. It is charged with preserving the canal’s resources and its historical integrity.

“We’re hoping this is it and that they’re not going to be able to build,” Hurwitz said. “Not only is it hallowed ground … but from an ecological standpoint, it’s not good land for the development.”

Hurwitz said the site is the center of Gen. George Washington’s counterattack against the British during the 1777 Battle of Princeton and that building housing there is akin to allowing a housing development to be built over the site of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. In 2012, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the Princeton site as one of country’s 11 most endangered historic places.

“The only threat is the institute’s building plans,” Hurwitz said.

He said it has been a long road for both sides. Still outstanding is a suit before a state appellate court that would block the project. Opponents also contend that wetlands on the property were overlooked by the institute, Hurwitz said.